As the iPhone X went on sale Friday morning, the familiar sight of Apple fans lining up outside Apple Stores for their new iPhones made a triumphant comeback.

The prospects of strong demand for the new iPhone X and iPhone 8 seemed to wipe away memories of a previous iPhone sales slump. As recently as May, Apple reported a decline in year-to-year iPhone sales, triggering questions about whether Apple was losing its mojo.

But thanks to a bevy of new features from Face ID to a bezel-less front screen, the iPhone X, which starts at $999, is generating enthusiasm not seen since the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in 2014. A large crowd cheered and applauded as CEO Tim Cook greeted them at the Palo Alto Apple Store early Friday.

In San Francisco’s Union Square store, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Retail Angela Ahrendts gave employees a pep talk and then greeted a crowd of more than 300 who waited for hours — some even for days — to buy the new iPhone X.

With hundreds more lining up outside Apple Stores in London, New York City and Sydney, Apple shares briefly soared to a record high of $174.26 Friday morning.

The first in line in San Francisco were Justin Harris, 22, and Ross Hendrix, 20, both from Oakland. The two friends had waited outside the store since last Sunday and braved a drizzle in their final night.

For Harris, he looked forward most to the full-screen OLED display, which allows more resolution and contrast in its colors, and backing up his health data from his Apple Watch onto the new iPhone X.

He also enjoys meeting health goals in the Activity app, which closes rings to indicate success.

The crowd in San Francisco wrapped around Post and Powell Streets, bringing chairs, yoga mats and sleeping bags to brave the elements.

Greg Laurie, 64, found cardboard to sit on and rested his back against a parking meter as he waited for the store to open at 8 a.m. A pastor from Orange County, Laurie said he owned Apple products since the early 1980s and carried around two iPhones, an Apple Watch and AirPods.

“Samsung has been giving Apple a run for their money lately,” said Laurie. “More real estate on the screen would be helpful. I also just wish they’ll concentrate more on the battery life.”

For other fans, the latest launch of the iPhone line was an exciting spectacle of its own. Some noted a lack of excitement for the launches of iPhone 7 and 8.

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“We were in line for the iPhone 7 launch at 1 a.m.,” said Farhan Hassan, 22, of San Jose. Hassan and his friend Amit Kazi, 24, of San Francisco, arrived at Union Square around 1 a.m. on Friday. “We were around the 25th person in line then. Today, we are like the 100th person in line.”

Hassan and Kazi chalked up the revived interest for the iPhone X to the feeling of “newness” with the iPhone X, whereas iPhone 7 and 8 looked and functioned similarly to their predecessors.

That newness may soon break records for the Cupertino tech giant. Apple said Thursday its expects revenue of between $84 billion and $87 billion in the holiday quarter from October through December, the highest revenue in the company’s history.

“As we approach our holiday season, we expect it to be our biggest quarter ever,” Cook said during a conference call Thursday with analysts.

Last Friday, iPhone X online pre-orders sold out in 15 minutes, and Apple soon estimated a five- to six-week waiting time for pre-orders to be delivered. Part of the backlog was due to limited supplies of the iPhone X caused by manufacturing issues.

One Japanese media outlet, the Nikkei Asian Review, reported Apple had 20 million iPhone X units for 2017, half of what it originally expected.

But supply woes and the high price point could not faze Hendrix, the second man in line, who had waited several days in Union Square. With a large grin, he unboxed his iPhone X in front of a media scrum and yelled, “I got an iPhone!”

When asked why he felt he needed to spend $999 on a smartphone, Hendrix slightly pushed back.

“It’s not that I had to have it,” said Hendrix. “It’s that I wanted to have it.”